Boeing and Gatwick Airport Propose to Build New Maintenance Hangar

2016-11-21 15:12:50WCARN.com27

Boeing and London Gatwick Airport (LGW) today announced plans to build a commercial aviation maintenance hangar at the airport.

The proposed facility, subject to local authority planning permission, would support Boeing's European GoldCare customers. Utilized by more than 60 airline customers around the world, GoldCare is a flexible set of fleet engineering, materials and maintenance services tailored for airlines and managed by Boeing. The facility will also add engineering capacity at Gatwick to support airlines as the airport continues its growth in both short and long haul services.

"This is an important investment for Boeing as we commit still further to our customers in the UK and across the European region," said Mike Fleming, vice president of Fleet Services, Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. "We look forward to working with Gatwick Airport, the local authority and regulators to support our customers in Europe through our world-class commercial aviation services business."

The development would further strengthen a joint commitment made by the UK Government and Boeing in July 2016 on a long-term initiative for prosperity and growth in the UK. The multi-million pound facility is expected to support more than 100 jobs at Boeing and its suppliers in the Gatwick area.

"Since coming into independent ownership, Gatwick has achieved record levels of growth in the numbers of passengers and flights supported by more than 1.3 billion pounds of investment in infrastructure, technology and passenger facilities," said Guy Stephenson, Gatwick's Chief Commercial Officer. "This new partnership with Boeing will help us to ensure that we can continue to grow and support our operations - especially in our burgeoning long haul services - and provide world class facilities for our airlines."

Gatwick Airport will complete an environmental study before the proposed plan is brought before the Local Planning Authority for review Subject to approval of the plan, Boeing would begin construction in late 2017 and open for operations in 2018. The precise nature and location of the hangar on the Gatwick site will be announced at a later date.

"The UK is a crucial country for us and represents a prime location for our business supporting airlines in Europe and beyond," said Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing Europe and Managing Director of Boeing UK and Ireland. "We have doubled our UK workforce over the last five years and this new development would continue this growth trajectory into the future, delivering prosperity to this country in partnership with the UK industry and our customers."

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